Sunday, 24 October 2021: As previously communicated, loadshedding will be suspended at 05:00 on Monday as Eskom has made some progress in replenishing the emergency generation reserves. However, due to the loss of Koeberg Unit 1 this morning, we anticipate the need to utilise emergency reserves extensively during the next few days to avoid loadshedding. In order to achieve this, Stage 2 loadshedding will be required during Monday and Tuesday nights in order to replenish the emergency reserves for the following day.
Koeberg Unit 1 tripped on Sunday morning as a result of a fault on a feedwater pump, which is on the secondary plant. The plant was shut down in accordance with standard plant operating procedures and all parameters are stable.
There are no nuclear safety concerns on the reactor side of the plant, which is ready to be restarted once the feedwater pump fault has been resolved. The investigation into the feedwater pump fault is in progress and once concluded, Eskom will be able to confirm the return to service date of the unit, which is expected to be during next week.
Over the past 24 hours Eskom teams have returned to service a unit each Tutuka and Hendrina power stations, while two Kusile units have also returned to service. Unfortunately, we have taken off a unit each at Hendrina and Kriel power stations, in addition to the Koeberg unit.
Total breakdowns currently amount to 15 813MW while planned maintenance is 4 967MW of capacity.
Eskom would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the implementation of loadshedding, and requests the public to reduce the usage of electricity in order to help us through the constraints.
Eskom will communicate promptly should there be any significant changes to the power system.
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